Entering Week 8, the Lions hadn’t blocked a punt since 2007. Over the last two games, Brayden Coombs’ special teams unit has blocked three.
Entering Week 8, the Lions hadn’t blocked a punt since 2007. Over the last two games, Brayden Coombs’ special teams unit has blocked three.
Early in the season, the hype surrounding Coombs centered around what he has been able to accomplish with Jack Fox, taking an undrafted free agent who was in a punter competition for a roster spot, and turning him into the best punter in the NFL in average yards per punt, net yards per punt, hang time, among other categories — all categories he still leads.
But, over the last two weeks, when he has called for a punt block, the Lions have been getting to the ball. And the part that really drives home that this isn’t just luck, is the fact that each block has come from a player lining up at a different spot.
In Week 8, Miles Killebrew was the player who got the Lions first block in nearly 13 years, but he was assisted by pressures by Jahlani Tavai and Jamie Collins. Tavai blew his guy off the ball and pushed him back into Killebrew’s lane, essentially occupying the assigned blocker, while Collins threatened the edge and forced the blocker wide
“You never know when it’s going to be you, whether the rush is designed for you specifically or not,” Coombs said to the Lions media after Killebrew’s block. “Like we talk about pressure burst pipes. As we’re creating pressure for the opponent, it might be designed to hit on one side of the formation, but the way that it breaks down, it might be somebody totally unexpected that comes free. So that’s why it’s really important that all 11 guys are out there doing their jobs, got the pedal to the metal.”
This week, Austin Bryant, who activated from the PUP list less than 24 hours before the game, lined up on the edge. When the edge blocker went low to cut block him, Bryant’s length and athleticism allowed him to power through the glancing block attempt, keep his feet, then use his length to get to the ball. Check out the full clip below:
Three possessions later, the Lions set a franchise record when Romeo Okwara got his hand on another punt.
Okwara lines up over the A-gap and his first step is too quick for the long snapper, who immediately grabs Okwara by the waist as he bursts by him. Okwara powers through the holding attempt and uses every bit of his length to deflect the ball. Check out the clip below (the replay gives a better perspective of how Okwara accomplished this):
Two games, three blocked punts, by three different players, all lining up at different spots. As Coombs said, if you get all 11 players to do their jobs then eventually the pipe is going to burst somewhere.
It’s fair to say, Coombs has his guys properly motivated, extremely prepared, and working hard for him on every snap. And it’s paying off.
